The Daughter of the Sea
by Calla Mae
Summary: She was a siren, a sea witch. The daughter of Tangaroa god of the sea. Her name was Vahi'a. She swore to see Moana safe in her travels to find Maui and restore the heart of Te Fiti. How was she to know the demigod would be so infuriating?
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

_Hello readers. This is an idea I had after watching Moana. I wasn't planning on writing a story for it, or even being inspired by it - but it was wonderful. Let alone Maui, whose face I went between finding disturbing and strangely cute.  
My character Vahi'a, is mine alone. I took the words for woman - vahi and fish - i'a to create fish woman - Vahi'a. She will have her own journey to finding herself as she travels with Moana, which I found so powerful in the movie and only hope to achieve half it's wonderful-ness. __Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy._

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 _Maui was struck from the sky, never to be seen again. And his magical fishhook and the Heart of Te Fiti were lost to the sea. Where, even now, a thousand years later, Te Ka and the demons of the deep still hunt for the Heart. Hiding in a darkness that will continue to spread._

 **[*][*][*]**

Long ago a young water spirit lived in a cave off the shore of Te Fiti. Her skin was the color of the wet sand she used to walk, her hair the color of the setting sun she used to watch from mountaintops, her eyes the color of the grass she used to run through. Her legs were taken from her and replaced with the tail of fish, and she was flung into the ocean to live apart from the land she had loved. Her sorrow spanned eternity.

About her many things were said. Flowers had been her favorite: one was given at the start of a journey asking for safe sailing, and at the end to say thank you and they had arrived safely. For hungry fishermen she would coax fish into their nets to feed a great many, and in return she would drag the strongest man to the bottom of the sea to feed her lonely spirit. Rivers were the tracks she had made trying to return to the land. Lakes were made from her tears. Some thought her cruel and viciously jealous, drowning men and women, and children, because she wanted their legs. She was a siren, a sea witch. The daughter of Tangaroa god of the sea.

Her name was Vahi'a.

She was there when Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti. It shook the walls around her as Te Fiti crumbled turning to ash. Vahi'a swam as darkness spread around her. But she was not fast enough. Darkness had reached for her catching the end of her tail staining it black.


	2. Chapter 2: Setting Sail

A lone pale flower floated on the surface of the ocean, spinning in slow circles as the water ebbed and flowed toward the bright reflection of the moon. For years Moana had offered flowers to the sea in the name of Vahi'a, hoping the fish woman might hear her whispered dreams. And Moana did so then, as Grandmother Tala had instructions, sailing her canoe toward the constellation that would lead her to Maui. It was a prayer for safe passage.

The sea was quiet that night, a rippling canvas of the sky above twinkling with stars. From beneath the mirror moon rose the woman of the sea, the flower catching in her hair, her face upturned toward the young girl kneeling at the edge of the boat. A wet hand reached from the water touching her cheek.

"Vahi'a. You are real," Moana breathed. It was a faraway memory, once thought a dream, of a dark hand with long slender fingers holding out a pretty stone. Her tail had been the blue of deep water and her hair the color of a burning sun, and she'd touched her cheek then with the same warmth as she had now.

Vahi'a smiled folding her arms over the edge of the boat holding herself up. She found Moana as beautiful as when she'd been a child. Vahi'a could see herself following this girl across the sea. The ocean had chosen right.

"This is awesome!" Moana squealed, quickly steadying the boat after her jump rocked it. "Grandma told me you were and that if I sent my dreams on the petals of flowers you might someday come. And now you're here. Did you get them?" she gasped as a new thought came to her, "you were there, you gave me the heart of Te Fiti. Have you been waiting for me this whole time? Do you know the ocean too?" Her silence was as sudden as her excitement, and Moana knelt by her again waiting for answers with bright eyes and a wide smile.

"Yes," Vahi'a answered slow and unsure.

Moana nodded wanting more. "To which part?"

She shrugged. "All of it." She pulled herself out of the water sitting at the edge of the canoe and wrung her long hair. When she let her damp hair fall over her shoulder and turned she found Moana sitting at her side as close as she could without touching her, eyes wide with mysticism as she leaned closer. "One question at a time," she told her, holding up a slender finger for added effect.

A large grin spread wide on the girl's face. "What's it like having a fish tail?"

Vahi'a opened her mouth to answer.

"And can I touch it?"

Releasing the breath she'd taken for a response her head cocked to the side giving Moana a look that fell somewhere between annoyance and endearment. How long had it been since she last spoke to a human? Her answer was the flick of her tail splashing Moana, who gave a surprised yelp before laughing. "I can swim anywhere I want," Vahi'a told her. "I've traveled every depth, met every kind of fish. Some are kinder than others."

"That sounds incredible," Moana quietly exclaimed, wishing to see all she had. "Do you ever miss the land?"

The small smile Vahi'a wore wilted as she looked at the water lapping against the side of the canoe. "I don't remember it much anymore. Some days I just want more."

This time Moana didn't speak. The longing heard in Vahi'a's surprisingly deep voice was familiar to Moana. Instead she turned to the stars seeing they had drifted off course and she quickly set them right. Turning back to the fish woman Moana found her eyes were on the sky too, her gaze tracing the hook that had been placed in the sky. Moana wondered if she'd tried to follow it. She sat at her side again, finding her face in the moonlight was a far cry younger than her many years. "We'll find Maui," Moana told her, "deliver him across the great ocean, and restore the heart of Te Fiti." She opened her grandmother's necklace to show the pulsing green stone.

Vahi'a reached a gentle hand to brush the spiral etched in its center. "She was my only friend, for a long time. I'd like to see her again, even if I can't run along her shore."

"Maybe she can give you your legs back," Moana said with more hope than Vahi'a had ever felt. "You could dance again."

Vahi'a smiled, a small thing curling only the corners of her mouth. "Maybe," she said without agreeing. She'd stopped believing she would ever return to the shore long ago, so long she couldn't remember. They spent the remainder of the night with Moana talking, asking questions of Vahi'a or telling her about Motunui. Until Moana fell asleep, and then Vahi'a returned to the water to steer them toward the hook in the sky.

She had gone this way many times before, knowing who she would find at the end. Maybe this time she'd finally reach it.

 **[*][*][*]**

Bk-aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

With a startled gasp Vahi'a woke losing her grip on the canoe's outrigger and slipped into the water. Peeking above the surface Vahi'a looked to Moana seeing her holding something. She snuck closer watching Moana pick up a coconut, and underneath it saw a strange bird who screamed as he had before. Moana quickly placed the coconut half back over his head.

"It's okay, you're alright" Moana soothed lifting the coconut again.

Seeing it was only a bird Vahi'a pulled herself onto the boat. "What kind of bird is it?" she asked watching the way it tilted its head its eyes never seeming to go in the same direction.

"A chicken. His name is Hei Hei." She turned back to the chicken as it looked at the water around it. "See? Nice water," she said reaching a hand to the ocean to show him, and Hei Hei took two small steps forward to see. "The ocean is a friend of mine."

As if deciding she was right Hei Hei turned and walked straight off the boat. Vahi'a watched the bird with her head tilted in confusion. She waited for him to come back up and float on the surface, its little feet kicking underneath – like all the other birds. This one came up feet first. Her head only tilted further.

"Hei Hei," Moana called in a panic as she quickly climbed to her feet.

"Moa-" Vahi'a sighed as Moana dove into the water after the bird, forgetting in her worry there was a woman with the tail of a fish sitting on her boat. A gust of wind caught in the still open sail leaving Moana and Hei Hei behind. Another sigh. Vahi'a jumped in the water with a hand on the edge of the boat swimming against the wind so that she held the boat in place. It allowed Moana to catch up and she climbed onto the boat shivering and out of breath.

Vahi'a watched in silence as Moana set the bird down telling it to stay. Only for it to walk to the edge the moment she turned her back. Vahi'a raised neither hand nor fin to catch Hei Hei, she watched with mild curiosity but mostly exasperation as Moana set the bird in the storage hatch, where it proceeded to walk into the corner turn around and walk into the other corner. And then turn around and walk into the corner, and then turn around… "Did you bring him for food?"

"He isn't supposed to be here," Moana explained looking up at Vahi'a's unamused face. She looked an irate sea goddess, her sun-red hair blowing gently in the breeze, her mouth frowning deeply. "Don't worry, there's more to Hei Hei than meets the eye." They both looked at the chicken, who hit the edge of hatch and turned around and walking into the other edge. Vahi'a turned to Moana with a cocked brow. Moana gave an uncomfortable smile. "We just, haven't found it yet."

Taking a steadying breath Vahi'a turned away and stared at the endless expanse of sea around them, declaring all chickens stupid creatures. Though she had only met one. Moana supposed she was pretty, in a strange non-human way. Vahi'a was very long and thin, her eyes green like seaweed, her skin though dark was lighter than anyone Moana had met. And her hair, Moana had never seen the color except in the way the sun set over the ocean, a deep burning red. "Have you ever met Maui?" she chanced asking.

Vahi'a turned to where Moana knelt still trying to make a good knot to secure the sail. "I could not find him," she admitted. Moana's next question was whether she had followed the hook in the stars. "I could not find him," she said again.

"So you've just been waiting."

She nodded. "For you."

"For me?" Moana asked with a quiet uncertainty.

Vahi'a's answer was to tuck Moana's hair behind her ear, grazing her round cheek with her fingers. Vahi'a found her so very beautiful. "You asked me what it's like to have a tail. It is lonely."

Moana hadn't thought of that, there were no other people in the sea. With a smile she took Vahi'a's hand and told her, "you aren't alone anymore."

Her own smile was a quaint thing, finding fondness overflowing for this spirited girl. "No, I suppose not. I have you," she closed her hand around Moana's. "And the chicken." They both turned to Hei Hei, who now stood still pecking at the wood as though it were a handful of seeds – Moana giggled, and Vahi'a only continued to smile holding fast to Moana's smaller hand.

They sailed for some time, Moana steering them in a direction she thought was right. And Vahi'a her quiet companion who every so often lowered herself into the water and led them the actual direction they wanted. As night fell a cruel wind picked up tossing the canoe on angry waves. Vahi'a swam beneath them where the water was kinder watching the little boat, seeing Moana safe in her travels.

She returned when the sea had calmed, resting her arms on the wood as she looked at the innumerous stars in the sky. Moana continued to mumble the speech she would give Maui, her voice slowing and trailing off. The waves were small, almost nil, and it lulled them to sleep. Vahi'a had begun to dream when she felt the boat turn sharp, and the outrigger she was holding lift into the air.

"nononono," Moana pleaded grabbing the barred wood hoping to weigh it down. Her hand closed on Vahi'a's tail finding it wet and slick and she slipped falling into the ocean as the canoe overturned, flinging Vahi'a a short distance.

From beneath the water she saw Moana swim to the surface. Her eyes next found the chicken, whose head hit the deck of the boat over and over looking for air. Her hand fastened around his neck and she brought him to the surface, placing him on the upturned underbelly before she dove back down and set about collecting the fruit from the spilled baskets.

There was a deep angry rumbling from above, a flash of angry pale light. Oh no, she thought hurrying for the surface. Large dark clouds rolled in bringing with them cracks of thunder and violent swells. Now was not the time to be in the water – these were the times when Vahi'a swam low or found a cave to take shelter. She could do none of this.

"Help me," Moana said when Vahi'a head broke the surface of the water. The two tried pushing the boat back over. Vahi'a almost had it before a swell caught underneath dipping the boat on top of her. Moana clung to the side of the boat, and Vahi'a tried to get from underneath it while at the same time not losing them as the waves pulled and tore at her. It left her under the boat holding onto a bar of wood as the water rose and fell. A wave crashed over them and the wood groaned threatening to break. She saw Moana's hold on the boat slip and she was quick to grab her, holding herself to the canoe with nothing more than her tail as she caught the sinking unconscious girl.  
She clawed at the wood pulling them to the edge and around where she held Moana's head above the water. "Stupid chicken," she muttered seeing Hei Hei clinging to the mast. What she meant to say was she was glad he'd been able to hold on, because she wouldn't have been able to go after him.

The storm raged a long few minutes carrying them far out to sea. Several times her hold slipped, on Moana, on the boat. But the sky cleared and the sea calmed. Vahi'a could breathe a little easier.

A wave swelled beneath them and the canoe rose, Moana hanging limp across a piece of wood. Another wave, a kinder one, pulled Vahi'a by the tail toward the bottom of the ocean. She fought against it at first - wanting to be at Moana's side, not wanting to lose her so soon after meeting her. But her efforts brought her no closer to the boat, which crashed on the shore of a small barren island.

An island. She swam to the surface looking to see there was in fact an island, Moana was now safe on its shore – and the chicken. A relieved breath left her as she swam a little closer, noting the place where the water shallowed and she knew without her father having to tell her that she could go no further. "Maui." She'd finally found him.


	3. Chapter 3: What to Do With A Demigod

"Good riddance you filthy pile of pebbles," Maui called joyfully as he paddled the canoe. There was an unhappy tapping over his left breast and he looked down to see Little Maui tapping his foot. "Oh no no no, don't look at me like that. It's a beautiful cave. She's gonna love it," he explained in his defense. "And I'm going to love you," he said plopping the chicken down on the boat, "in my belly." He pointed to his stomach for effect. "Now lets fatten you up drumstick."

Just a little closer. While Maui fed Hei Hei, who proved even more stupid by pecking at the boat rather than the pile of seeds, Vahi'a snuck alongside the canoe.

There was a small splash and the boat tipped with an added weight. Maui turned finding a woman with leaf-colored eyes and a sea blue fish tail sitting on the edge of his boat. His first thought, where had this beautiful woman been the last thousand years. "Hey fishy lady," he said, his voice low as he grinned. His second thought came after her tail whipped across his cheek with a loud _crack_ , she didn't look happy. "You came with the kid," he realized with a sigh. "Oh well, I don't got time for this."

With a stinging cheek he grabbed the end of her tail and threw her. What he hadn't anticipated was her tail encircling his wrist, using his momentum she was flung into his chest knocking him onto his back. She sat up triumphantly glaring down at the man with shoulders three times the width of her own. "You will go back," she informed him.

He laughed. Her thin build was made to travel water, not intimidate over-large demigods whose palm spanned the length of her collar bone. Restraining her was easy, he rolled over pinning her to the wood. "Not gonna happen babe," he told her with the same grin as before.

The two looked up at the sound of bellowing to see Moana leap from the edge of a cliff with her arms spread to tackle Maui. She fell short and hit the water with a stinging slap.

"I could watch that all day," he said when the girl broke the surface of the water with a gasp. Vahi'a was sprawled beneath him, her wet hair splayed over the edge of the boat. She met Moana's wide gaze, but before she could squirm from beneath the giant oaf he fastened a hand around her wrists and sat up reaching for the rig. "Enjoy the island. Maui out."

Wind caught the sail and the canoe sailed away, leaving Moana behind. Maui lifted Vahi'a by the wrists and lowered her to the water. "You're gonna stay right here," he told her, tying a rope around her wrists fastening her to the canoe's outrigger.

"Excuse you," she said twisting so that she could hit him with her tail again. "I'm neither a toy nor a prize. Now let me go."

He knew her trick and easily caught the end of her tail and held it up for her to see. "Hit me again and I'll tie this too." In his hand he could see the years of near capture from the fraying of her fin, the tears and holes – the pain. From the way her wrists pulled and maneuvered she was minutes away from becoming free. He pulled on the rope tightening it again and set about getting them away from the island and the girl with the heart. Away from all his mistakes.

There was a surge in the ocean. Vahi'a stopped her struggling and sank in the water, narrowing her eyes she could see Moana racing toward them. It was her turn to smile as she sat up turning to Maui's now surprised face as the ocean set Moana onto the boat. "Did not see that coming."

In a huff Moana turned to Maui, her hair turned with her slapping across her face. Vahi'a sighed setting about trying to free herself as Moana marched toward Maui. "I am Moana of Motunui. This is my canoe and you will journey to Te F- ah!"

Vahi'a didn't turn at the splash, she knew Maui had tossed Moana in the water. When she got out she was gonna drag him to bottom of the sea, they'd see if he could capture her again.

Water spilled over the wood. "And she's back," Maui muttered.

"I am Moana of Motunu-ah!"

In inpatient annoyance Vahi'a's eyes raised glaring at the side of the boat. Why had she ever wanted companions? Fish were never this annoying. She couldn't untie the knot, not with her teeth, not with pulling or twisting. But she could untie the string around the bar of wood Maui had fastened her to – the people who had crafted the boat were not demigods, their knots were not so tight. Undoing the tie that held the two ends of the wood together Vahi'a slipped her still bound wrists from the bar and sank into the water swimming away from the boat. She still couldn't undo the rope, the thought of having to ask him to do it angered her more. She'd find a shark first, if she gave them a fish they were always willing to help. She wouldn't even have to catch a fish, Maui would be great shark food.

She looked up to see a flash of green in Maui's hand as he threw the heart. In a rush of irritation she leapt from the water catching it and hauled it back knocking him in the forehead. Stunned he fell onto his back and she swam back to the boat a little happier.

"What is your problem?" Moana demanded after the ocean returned Maui to the canoe before he could flee. She picked up the heart seeing him flinch. "Are you afraid of it?" she asked in surprised delight.

Vahi'a sat her elbows on the side of the canoe watching with mild glee. "No, no," he laughed as though it were preposterous. "I'm not afraid of it." Though the tattoo him didn't agree, he proceed to chew his nails and run around flailing his arms before smugly turning to Maui. "Stay out of it your sleeping in my armpit," he told him before turning to the woman seeing from the way the corners of her eyes crinkled that she squinted when she smiled. "Wipe that look off your face or I'll tie you to the top of the mast." He then turned to Moana, who still held the glowing heart out to him. "You, stop it. That is not a heart it is a curse," he scooted back. "The second I took it I got blasted out of the sky and I lost my hook." He turned from the sea to see the stone now inches from his face and he jumped scrambling backward. "Get it away from me."

"Get this away?" Moana bringing it closer.

Vahi'a smiled at her taunting him, looking back to her still tied hands pulling at the rope. She scoffed at his threat to smite, or smote, her because without his hook he was a strong oaf and nothing more.

"Come for this. The heart. You mean this heart right here." Moana held the heart above her head yelling. "Come and get it!"

"No, Moana," Vahi'a said as Maui shushed her. For a thousand years Vahi'a and kept it hidden, had run from every thing that had tried taking it.

"You are gonna get us killed," Maui told her, a faint tremble heard in his deep voice.

"No I'm gonna get us to Te Fiti so you can put it back," she told him. "Thank you, you're welcome," she sung the last part and bowed.

Vahi'a turned feeling the way the water changed, large ripples breaking against her back. Something was coming. A loud whir had her ducking against the side of the canoe, hearing a thud as it struck the wood. She peeked over the edge to see Maui holding a bone that had been carved into a harpoon. "Kakamora," she breathed at the same time he muttered.

"Kaka-what?" Moana asked.

"Murdering little pirates," he answered bending down to grab Vahi'a's wrists using the bone as a knife to cut the rope. She sank in the water turning to the clouds rolling on the sea, hugging the small canoe as though it might hide her. "Wonder what they're here for," he said turning to Moana who still held the heart in her hand.

The fog cleared revealing three coconuts with arms and legs sticking out of the sides standing on a rock facing them. "They're kinda cute," Moana said. Until they drew warrior faces on their outer shell and pulled on their armor brandishing their weapons. They'd been so intent on the three Kakamora they didn't notice the shadow behind the fog growing until a large ship appeared with massive sails bearing an army. Vahi'a flinched as they pounded their drums, having never been one for a fight. She longed for her cave nestled against Te Fiti, where it was warm and safe.

"Ocean. Do something. Help us," Moana pleaded.

Maui scoffed pushing past her. "The ocean doesn't help you, you help yourself." He reached down plucking Vahi'a from the water and tossed her onto the outrigger. "You hold on." The last thing they needed was for her to get caught in one of their nets. In a loud bark he ordered, "Tighten the halyard, bind the stays." He turned to the girl when she didn't move, seeing her blank panicked face. "You can't sail!"

Moana searched for an answer. "I uh, I'm self taught."

He wasn't amused. He pulled on the rope opening the sail so that the wind caught it, leaving Vahi'a clinging to the wood so she wouldn't fly off. Not good, this was not good, it was very bad, and she hated everyone. The music behind them grew louder as their massive ship began to chase – and they would easily catch the small canoe.

"Can't you shapeshift or something?" Moana asked thinking Maui had to be able to do something. He was a demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man and all that.

"Do you see my hook?" he asked her. "No magic hook no magic powers."

Vahi'a had never been so sorry to be wrong, she wanted him to be more than a strong oaf. A louder whirr sounded overhead and she looked up to see a sky full of harpoons. She couldn't move fast enough, a choked gasp tore from her throat by a sharp pain at the end of her tail, anchoring her to the boat. Sitting up she found a harpoon had missed her neck by inches, another had stuck in the wood by her arm, and another had caught her fin. She was lucky it was only her fin, it didn't hurt as much. Nor would it bleed.

The canoe lurched as the ropes attached to the harpoons were pulled taut reeling them in. Maui began yanking harpoons hoping to free them. Beneath one he saw glistening blue and he turned, away from the many harpoons that were closer to him, to free the fish woman. At a sudden bellow they looked up to see the ship separating into three, an army of Kakamora on each one and several now using the ropes attached to the harpoons to descend upon the boat.

"Their boat is turning into more boats!"

Maui tore the harpoon from the wood and without sympathy yanked it out of her fin and tossed her into the water. "Get away from here," he told her. Fish were shy creatures, timid and fearful of anything bigger than them and most of the smaller things too. From what he'd seen of the fish woman, whose name he thought he knew, she was no different. But instead of running away she began pulling at the harpoons imbedded in their canoe. The two pulled and jerked at every harpoon stuck in the wood, she'd come across one that required more strength than she had to give and he'd wrap a large hand around it and heave.

Another whirring. This time lower, which meant bigger. While Maui moved around the ship grabbing more harpoons Vahi'a turned seeing a net opening as it soared toward him. The sound finally caught up to him and he turned thinking it was more harpoons and instead saw the net, with hooks on every end so that when it closed they snagged catching in the skin of a captive so they couldn't escape. He knew this net, and he breathed waiting for the sharp prick of the hooks in his skin. There was a flash of blue and the net closed around the fish woman who fell against the canoe with a harsh thud. Maui reached for her as she was reeled in, his large hand grazing her smaller one before she was yanked out of his reach.


	4. Chapter 4: Starlight Confessions

He wouldn't come back for her. He was a coward. Vahi'a knew this as she twisted in the net, hissing as several hooks pulled from where they were stuck in her tail. She wasn't squirming her way out of this rope and he wasn't coming for her. So think of something else.

She was pulled out of the sea dangled high above the water surrounded by the Kakamora as a fishing trophy. They jabbed at her, pulled at the net which in turn pulled at the hooks. One was holding a bone that had been carved into a knife. That was it, the something else she needed to think.

With a steadying breath she braced herself for pain and threw herself against the net, one hook ripping out of her tail, and grabbed the Kakamora's arm lifting him into the air with her. Snatching the knife out of his mean little hand she let him go and watched him fall into the sea with a large splash as he broke the surface.

Vahi'a couldn't get out of the net but she could cut the rope the net was attached to. Which is exactly what she did. For a second she was still in the air, neither rising nor falling, and stared at the horizon finding it so very beautiful from up high. And then she was plummeting where she struck the water with such force it knocked the breath out of her. For some time she sank, a bundle of twisted body parts until she finally managed to squeeze her torso through a hole in the rope so that she could at least use her arms. She swam under the canoe for a ways, hearing Moana land with a thud on top of Maui with the chicken and heart in hand. And she stayed under them, grabbing onto a piece of wood, as they skirted between two of the Kakamora's ships before they smashed together.

"Yeah, we did it! WOOHOO!" Moana cried.

Maui chuckled as he began pulling the blow darts out of the side of the boat. "Congratulations on not being dead curly. You surprised me." He grabbed the hand that clung to the underside of the boat and pulled the still caught sea woman onto the canoe beside him. "We gotta stop meeting like this babe," he told her, grinning at her scowl. He pulled on her tail and she found herself flat on her back staring at the clear sky above them. She felt his hands around her waist pulling at the net, removing each hook more gentle than his large hands seemed capable. "Good job back there," he told her, though it wasn't what he meant to say. "I knew you could handle it."

She sat up with a fire in her eyes and she ripped the last two hooks out of her tail before striking him in the face again. He turned to her wide eyed and slack jawed holding a hand to his cheek. "You insufferable oaf," she swore, self righteousness thick in her voice. She wanted to do more, whether to speak or hit him again she just wanted to give action to the anger warming her blood. "I need some air," she grumbled before flinging herself off the canoe and swimming away.

She didn't want to hear his infuriating voice anymore, or see his oversized face with his large nose and small eyes that were somehow both strange and attractive. She didn't want it. So she swam, deeper than she normally did so that the cool water could soothe her overheated skin. She let the water calm her, let it heal her until the sharp pain turned to a memory. And still she swam wondering how they were going to defeat Te Ka and whether she had any part in this. She was weak, and out of the water she was useless.

It was late when she returned, the stars already dancing. It wasn't any sense of purpose that brought her back, nothing within herself that made her feel needed; it was the thought of letting Moana down, who was counting on her be there. And Vahi'a thought she could at least do that.

Swimming closer she found Maui lying on his belly over the canoe's outrigger. She swam beneath him for a little ways watching his expression, which was one of annoyance and boredom. His neck was tired from craning to look up, to see anything but the empty ocean beneath him. And so his cheek was resting on a bar of wood and his eyes were on the water as it broke against the side of the canoe. He sighed.

A woman emerged from the depths of the sea, her hair splayed in the water a shadow of a halo. He found her beautiful, more than he thought she had any right. Her head cocked to the side and he read her confusion. "Blow dart," he mumbled. "And I don't wanna hear a word out of you."

A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. Before a stream of water spewed from between her lips hitting him in the face, and he couldn't even raise a hand to wipe it off. "Aw come on," he groaned.

She laughed lightly as she pulled herself onto the outrigger and lay with her head beside his, creating a line out of their bodies. "I like you better this way." She looked to find Moana fast asleep, and she turned back to the stars overhead wishing she could dance with them. How she missed dancing.

"Yeah you would," he grumbled, still sore over her slapping him again. "You know," he said trying to win her on his side – where he'd wanted her from the beginning – "my hook could give you legs. Have you ever been on land, cause you'd love it."

"Already tried it."

"What?" he demanded. This whole time and the fish chick knew where it was. He wanted to wad her into a ball and throw her as far as he could.

"I was there," she answered softly.

His voice was quieter this time, realizing his first thought had been wrong, as he asked, "what?"

She turned to him, seeing only his hair as he lay immobile. "Te Fiti was my home. I loved her." She released a breath turning for the stars, wishing she had instead been placed there instead of the sea. At least then she could shine. "I saw your hook sink, I tried to grab it. I wanted it so much."

He didn't need to ask why she didn't take it, he could hear it in her whispered voice she would have if she'd been able. "Its magic wasn't meant for you."

"I wasn't strong enough. In the end," she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, "I never am."

They lay quietly for a long while as the boat rocked and swayed, a gentle lull. Silence and solitude was something they both knew well, he having been marooned for a thousand years and her being sentenced to a lonely life at sea. It was quiet then, but they didn't feel so alone. "You know," he said again, this time with more sincerity, "we never had a proper introduction."

"That's because you flirted with me and then tied me to the boat."

"No," he said aiming to shake his head but it only flopped to the side, "you hit me. And then I tied you to the boat. Look that's not the point."

"Oh there's a point?" she asked with sarcasm laced in her toneless voice.

"The point is, you and I got off on the wrong foot."

"Fin."

"Whatever," he sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm Maui." He raised a hand to shake her, to seal their greeting, forgetting that he couldn't move. So he laid there. "This is the part where you say your name," he prodded.

She turned to him in irritable question. "You already know it."

"So say it anyway."

She sighed. "My name is Vahi'a," she grumbled through her teeth.

This woman was impossible. "It's nice to meet you Vahi'a."

Rolling her eyes she replied, "it's nice to meet you too." He cleared his throat and she added an exasperated, "Maui."

With his head cocked to the side he could see the side of her face. "I see you smiling."

"Oh shut up," she complained rolling on her side with her back to him.

"No no, it's to be expected. Everyone likes Maui. Demigod of the wind and sea, hero to man and everything. Don't beat yourself up." He said it all with a grin, hearing the large breath pass through her nose.

"Do you want me to hit you again?" she demanded. She laid back satisfied, and a bit smug, at his lack of response.

It didn't last long. Little Maui climbed his way to the tattoo on his shoulder urging Maui to say something, to be nice. Little Maui liked her more. "Gotta say, you're making it hard for me not to be attracted to you." This time he was the smug one at her silence. Though he looked at Little Maui on his shoulder who stared like he was pressed against a glass trying to see her better. Suddenly the tattoo turned and drew Vahi'a, a smile included, and began dancing with her. Maui rolled his eyes with a scoff. He'd never dance with her, not only did she not have feet she was also impossible.  
He felt the boat drift slowly left and he sighed. The girl wasn't a good wayfinder. They'd soon be well off track and he'd only just gotten feeling in his toes, there was still a lot of him left to go. And then they straightened, once more sailing the way they needed. His eyes found half of Vahi'a's tail in the water acting as a paddle directing them. "You know how to get to Lalotai?"

"No. But I know the stars, and I can keep us going right enough until you can actually be useful."

"Ouch," he mocked. "You take us a little more right we could actually go in the right direction."

Heaving a sigh she felt a splash of cold water, a warning. So she bit her tongue instead of his and steered a little more to the right. For a long while they drifted along not sharing a word between them, both too stubborn to speak first.

 **[*][*][*]**

Vahi'a woke curled on her side, her head propped up on a warm soft pillow. Her eyes slowly blinked and she found herself staring at Maui's upside down face, her pillow his shoulder. The sound she made was a mix of startlement and ew as she pushed herself away from him.

"Aw don't be like that fish stick," he said with an arrogant smirk. "You were so content a second ago. A little smile on your face." He stood up and stretched his aching muscles. He'd been poking her nose for several minutes trying to wake her up. "Told ya she liked me," he said looking down at Little Maui standing with his arms crossed. "Yeah whatever," Maui told him making for the stern.

She rubbed her tired eyes wondering how long she'd been asleep, it was still dark. She sat with her tail curled under her enjoying the cool breeze. Maui blinked feeling his eyes straying to where she sat, her back straight hands folded in her lap. There was something he couldn't put his finger on. "Can I ask you something, fish stick?"

"I feel like you're going to no matter my answer," she said only half turning toward him, her eyes catching the faint hint of light as the sun began peeking over the horizon.

"Probably," he agreed. "So, uh, your tail," he started uncomfortably. They both looked at the fin that half hung off the boat, in the newly dawning morn it was easy to tell where the blue turned black. "You're dying aren't you?"

She turned at his soft voice, at the guilt she saw in his very round face. In that moment, and that moment alone, she found him sweet. It changed nothing. Her answer was still, "yeah." They spent the rest of the morning in silence, the boat swaying with the gentle waves, the sun creeping higher in the cloudy sky. Her mind was nowhere and everywhere, and his sad face filled the in between. A breath swelled in her chest and she turned to him. "Can I ask you a question?"

He looked at where she sat and time seemed to slow. Her eyes were a deep green that morning, the sun glinting off the red strands of her dry hair and it blew faintly along the breeze. He cleared his throat. "Got nothing better to do." It wasn't what he meant.

With a shake of her head she turned back to the horizon to the tall mountain they were sailing toward, missing his defeated sigh. She was quiet several moments, grinding her teeth, until her want to know outweighed her stubbornness. "How'd you know I could handle it?"

That answer came easy. "Well, you weren't getting out of my knot." He knelt by the outrigger and pulled at the second bar where she'd broken the string tying it to the canoe. "So you found a way off the wood." He looked up at her grinning, proving he'd known from the beginning she was a tough fish. "I guess I should say thanks," he mumbled looking at the wood of the boat.

"What?"

He sighed. "I said I should say thanks, you know for," he scuffed his foot irritably, "letting yourself get captured for me." He snuck a glance in her direction to see half her mouth curled in a smirk. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he demanded.

"I heard you the first time," she told him with an offhanded shrug. "Just wanted to hear you say thank you again."

For a moment he stared, his brows raised his eyes widened and his mouth slightly gaping in surprise, and then he shook himself and frowned. "You are impossible," he told her turning back to the rig, hearing her light chuckling. He looked down to Little Maui, who stood with his hands clasped together making a kissy-face. He flicked him to his back and grumbled about how fish belonged in the ocean not on a boat. "You know you were the one who jumped in front of the net, for me. So what does that say about y-"

"You're welcome," she said cutting him off. "Alright? It's over, under the rug." She watched him consider it before giving a curt nod. "We never have to speak of it," she added, his brows furrowing as she continued talking. "How Maui demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man and everything needed an impossible fish woman to save his life."

He rolled his eyes so hard they might've stuck. "You didn't save my life," he informed her.

"Thought we weren't talking about it?"

He opened his mouth to respond realizing if he said anything then they were talking about it, and she had saved him. With a sigh he closed his mouth and turned back to the rig refusing to so much as look her way. There was a tapping in shoulder, he didn't look at Little Maui because he knew if they'd been keeping score she'd have a few points more than he.


	5. Chapter 5: What She Paid To Be Brave

They reached the shore, and Vahi'a saw that the rock wasn't so much a mountain as it was just a tall thin jutting stone planted in the middle of a decaying piece of land. She wasn't hugely impressed.

"You're sure this guy's gonna have your hook?" Moana asked eyeing the cliff, wondering why anyone would live on top of it.

"Tamatoa? He'll have it. He's a scavenger – collects stuff, thinks it makes him look cool," he said tying off the canoe so it'd be there when they go back.

Vahi'a craned her neck to see the top wondering what up there made it so terrifying to bear the name "realm of monsters." It seemed to her that it should be bigger, and probably a lot scarier. Either way it didn't matter, she'd be staying with the boat because it wasn't as if she could climb.

"And he lives up there?" Moana just as clueless as Vahi'a.

Maui turned to her with a confused, "what?" before he realized she had no idea where they were going. He chuckled mostly to himself at the thought of her face. "Oh no, that's just the entrance. To Lalotai."

"Lalotai?" Moana repeated, though with more fear in her voice. "The realm of monsters. We're going into the realm of monsters?"

Of course they were, Vahi'a thought watching Hei Hei with mild annoyance as he pecked at the boat instead of the seeds. She didn't notice Maui moving behind her.

"We? No. Me." He paused looking down at Vahi'a's auburn head. "And fish stick," he said easily plucking her from the boat and throwing her over his shoulder. "You're going to stay here," he said turning to Moana. "With the other chicken. Bkwok." He laughed to himself and turned to Mini Maui with arm strapped around her wriggling tail holding his hand up for a high-five. "That's what I'm talking about – gimme some." Little Maui wasn't having it. "Nothing? That was a good one."

She gave up after only a few moments not gaining even a centimeter. For the moment being she wasn't going anywhere. Except for with Maui, who continued to talk to the tattoo of himself. She rested chin in hand watching as they climbed higher. Even when Maui did loosen his grip, to better climb, she was now trapped by the crushing fall beneath her. "I don't understand why I'm going," she mumbled jostling on top of his massive shoulders that flexed and strained as he climbed.

"Don't worry there's water. You're just here to help me find my hook," he said using his chin to hold her in place as he reached for a rock. For most of it she balanced on his shoulder, if she moved at all she would've slipped and even she wouldn't have survived the fall. He wondered if that meant she trusted him.

Those were thoughts she did not share. "This is stupid."

He released a breath shaking his head. "Lets try something different," he told her. "Have we met before?"

"We met yesterday."

Her toneless responses were beginning to grate on his nerve. "No, before that. You seem familiar."

She shrugged, watching amused as Moana quietly climbed a ways beneath them. "Maybe you've heard of me," she answered, tapping impatiently on his shoulder.

"No. No. People have heard of me. An irritating fish stick, not so much."

She glared irritably at the horizon wishing to hit him again. "How bout my father?" she asked hearing his, huh. "Tangaroa, maybe you know him."

God of the sea. Maui's momentum stalled as he realized who he was carrying over his shoulder. "That make you a princess too?" he asked getting over it as he continued climbing.

"Try a goddess," she informed him. "Which if you're keeping score is above a demigod. Especially a useless one without his hook."

His hand hovered over the next stone feeling the sting of her words. A thought came to him and a smile curled on his mouth. "Oh no," he said, his shoulder going limp beneath her. "I feel my hold on you slipping. Whatever will I do?"

"Maui!" she cried slipping down his back, catching nothing more than a leaf in his skirt – nothing that would save her.

His hand caught the end of her tail feeling it wrap around his wrist and he laughed pulling her up. She reached for him grabbing at his leg, his waist, and then under his arm where she wrapped herself around him. "Come on," he said flexing to find that with her slung on either arm she actually fit comfortably, like a pack, "I wasn't gonna let you fall." He chanced a glance at where her head was, her cheek against his arm. "Geez, when was the last time you were on land?" he asked before climbing onto a ledge for a break.

"Before my uncle stole my legs."

"Oh," he said, his voice quiet. "Forgot about that." He looked at her again, feeling how tight her little arms were wrapped him. "Hey," he said. "Fish stick," he said louder forcing her to look at him. And when she did he told her, more gentle than he'd ever been toward her, "I wasn't gonna let you fall." He stared hard at her waiting for her nod, small as it was.

She met Moana's eye as the girl climbed passed them, saw her small encouraging smile. Vahi'a didn't feel encouraged. She was clinging to her life support and if she let go she'd fall. Times like these legs were more useful than a fin. Movement in her peripheral caught her eye and she turned to see Mini Maui who drew a heart over his left breast and puffed out his chest grinning. It made her smile.

Maui felt her smile and Little Maui on his shoulder by her head. "Hey, quit flirting with her."

"Why?" Vahi'a asked. "He's doing a better job than you."

Maui turned from the top of the cliff to see the smile she was hiding pressed against his arm. Giving her a hard look he climbed the last step and stood at the highest point staring at the endless sea surrounding them. Moana stood at the edge staring thoughtfully at the water. "If you start singing I'm gonna throw up."

"Maui," Vahi'a scolded.

He flexed his shoulders pulling her with him. "Come on babe, ride's over."

"So," Moana said turning to him with a scoff, "I'm not seeing an entrance."

Maui lowered Vahi'a to the stone, rather than unceremoniously dropping her, and stepped toward the center of the circle. "Yes, because it only appears after a human sacrifice," he told her somberly, watching her eyes widen. "Kidding!" He turned to Vahi'a feeling her hand smack his leg. "So serious."

He sucked in a large breath, and Vahi'a quickly shut her eyes and brought a hand to shield her face as he blew. She dusted herself off hearing Moana coughing on the other side. It revealed a rather crude looking face, its nose a boulder Maui stood on. Vahi'a found herself sitting on its eye, Moana at its chin. She startled at Maui's sudden haka, his voice booming like thunder before he gracefully leapt in the air and landed hard on the nose. The ground beneath them quaked as the doors slid open.

Vahi'a pulled herself to the edge peering into the dark cavern, a faint purple glow far away at the bottom. Now that, looked like something worthy of being called the realm of monsters. And she did not wanna go in, she'd never been the least bit curious.

"Don't worry," Maui told the two girls wearing mirrored looks of horrified curiosity, "it's a lot farther down than it looks." Without much effort Maui suddenly lifted Vahi'a and tossed her, unceremoniously, into the empty void.

"Cheeee-hooooo!"

She was falling on her back, her hair reaching for the sky she was quickly leaving behind – or maybe for Maui who was cannonballing above her – "I am still falling," he yelled. Water, he said there'd be water. She had to hope, to trust. Arching her back she extended her hands so that she dove, her palms breaking the surface of the water letting the rest of her pass smoothly.

It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. The vortex glowed a warm purple, its spirals shimmering as she passed through their center. Maui's large, much heavier form, quickly passed by her heading down down down. Where were they going, surely there was an end.

She broke the surface of the water, or the end, and found herself simply falling. Her arms reached for something, anything, to grab to slow her. She only found air. Suddenly her body struck two large sturdy arms and hers were quick to wrap around his broad shoulders. His laugh was deep rumbling in his chest. "What'd I tell ya?" he said leaning closer so that his nose brushed her cold now pale cheek. "Wasn't gonna let you fall."

With short breaths she stared at his smug cherub face feeling her own laughter bubbling, though hers was more out of fear than amusement. He didn't give her time to react, to stop him or hold on to him. One second she was noticing the color of his eyes and the next she was spinning. And then he let her go. She shot like a cannon through the air hitting the water with a stinging _crack_ and spun a little ways before slowing. Indignant she turned raising a very unkind gesture to where he still stood.

He blew her a kiss still laughing to himself. "Told ya she liked me," he said looking to Mini Maui to find him standing with the tally board, where he drew another line for Moana. "What? Dum dum, she's not even here. No mortal's gonna jumping into the real of," Mini Maui jerked a thumb to the sky and Maui looked up in time to see Moana before she crashed into him flattening him.

Vahi'a watched with wide eyes Moana tumbling down the cliff, hitting each side harder than the last. She swam lower trying to keep an eye on her. There was a long minute where she lost the girl completely. And then she spotted her running on the ground narrowly escaping a bat's claw.

Moana looked around seeing where the sky was supposed to be the sea, finding in the big wide blue water Vahi'a – Moana felt a moment of peace at knowing she was there, still seeing to her safe travels. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. And then she noticed what she thought was a dark plant turn its head revealing a horrifying painted mask. It walked toward her on uncoordinated legs, its head twisting, its fours arms spreading revealing sharps claws. Moana cried out pushing herself back frantically as it stalked forward. It stepped over a series of geysers and one glowed beneath it bubbling before it burst. Moana watched the creature as it was shot through the air and up into the sea above. She found Vahi'a at the surface, her hand extended past the water reaching for something. Had she done that, Moana wondered.

Vahi'a returned the girl's small wave straining to stay above the surface. Maui wasn't there this time to catch her. She slowly followed Moana to a shimmering cave, her pace sluggish and tired. Pulling herself along the slick rock her hands grabbed at the edge of its opening hauling herself up so she could see inside. If she could have a moment to rest, to just breathe, maybe she'd feel better. Catching her breath she stared down at the second most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. There was so much gold. It wasn't even the gold she liked, it was how it shined and gleamed no matter which way she turned. She just wanted to touch it, to hold everything just once. How many treasures had she collected lost to the sea, it was nothing compared to this.

She sank against the stone with a content sigh watching it glitter. She didn't even notice the hook. And then she saw, decked in shiny shells, Moana come into view. Shaking herself she sat up, seeing the large hook for the first time in the center of the gold, and Moana walking around it. Why wasn't she trying to get it, why wasn't Maui. And then it hit her – Moana was bait. Oh when she got her hands on that demigod she'd carve her own tattoo for him to bear the rest of his ill begotten days.

From her perch Vahi'a watched the ground rumble beneath Moana, watched it rise and her fall, until a claw reached out and caught her. With a gasp Vahi'a realized the gold was a shell, Tamatoa was massive. And now he had Moana.

"What have we here?" Tamatoa said with glee. "It's a sparkly, shiny," he looked closer. "Wait a minute." With a flip the shells fell off and he caught Moana.

Vahi'a watched useless from above. This one had to be Maui, she had to trust he could be heroic even though he hadn't shown an ounce of heroism since she'd met him. Well, she could trust Moana. The girl was resourceful. She got the giant crab talking about himself, or rather singing about himself.

 _Well Tamatoa hasn't always been glam. I was a drab little crab once. Now I know I can be happy as a clam – because I'm beautiful baby_

Vahi'a ducked out of sight when the crab flipped a gold piece into the water, and watched amazed as gold flecks shimmered. Eyes wide with awe she swooned catching her cheek in hand watching the crab strut along the cave floor. He was magnificent.

 _Fish are dumb dumb dumb. They like anything that glitters._

"Hey crab cake!"

Her daze was shaken by Maui's loud voice and she looked to see Tamatoa had been about to eat Moana. Get a grip, she told herself – she didn't know if it was the tail but she'd always loved treasure. Maui had his hook, he'd shapeshift into something bigger than Tamatoa and he and Moana would escape Lalotai. She sighed relieved that things were finally looking up.

"It's Maui time," he cried holding the hook high in the air with pride. He swung the hook and transformed…into a fish.

"Seriously?" she asked the fish around her, who'd taken note of her long hair and swam around it playfully. He gave another bellowing cry and transformed into everything but what he wanted and ended up as himself, a small now uncertain man against a giant crab. "This demigod," she groaned. Even with his stupid hook he was useless.

 _Well, well, well, Little Maui's having trouble with his look. You little semi-demi-mini-god. Ouch! What a terrible performance. Get the hook (get it?) You don't swing it like you used to, man_

This time when he started singing, and the light caught on the gold of his shell reflecting around him, she wasn't dazed. She watched him fling Maui about, he was so small in comparison. Even if he hadn't been heroic he'd at least felt it, watching as he was thrown into the ceiling beside her, shaking the stone she was under, he didn't seem much like a hero.

Tamatoa knocked a claw against the wall and she looked up seeing the shell of a clam begin closing the opening she inhabited. There was a choice to be made: one, she could stay out there where it was safe and see how they fared – or two, she could jump and try to help them. Taking a breath she leapt breaking the surface of the water and fell through the air landing on the crab's back. She grabbed the hook, which was stuck in the crab's shell, clinging to it as the shell shook and quaked threatening to buck her. As the last bit of light was snuffed out the cave was illuminated by a strange glow. Tangaroa was coated in a pale blue, though she couldn't see his face, and the plants growing along the inside of the cave glowed deep blues or greens, some even purple. Vahi'a didn't know where to look as the crab spun.

 _You try to be tough but your armor's just not hard enough. Maui! It's time to kick your hiney._

Maui was kicked onto the shell, and dazed he looked up seeing with double vision his hook. Wrapped around it was Vahi'a reaching for him, her face earnest and desperate as the crab spun still singing - taunting. Raising a heavy hand he tried to reach her, felt her soft hand grazing his larger one before he was torn from her grasp and flung to the ground.

"Maui," Vahi'a cried still reaching for him. A claw squeezed around her waist tearing her off of the hook, and without much thought or care that he had himself the only sea woman, he flung her against the wall. She fell limp to the ground.

Tamatoa plucked the demigod from the god tossing him into the air and caught him between his teeth. "Hey!" Tamatoa turned to see the human girl holding a glowing green stone. He spat Maui from his mouth and said in awe, "the heart of Te Fiti."

In a last moment of valor Maui grabbed one of Tamatoa's legs trying to slow him as he chased after Moana. But he was flung to the side. To his left he found Vahi'a crumpled on her side an arm outstretched as though still reaching for him. He crawled to her wrapping a large hand around her shoulder watching her head fall to the side. Looking for Moana he found her dragging his hook toward him.

"We gotta go," Moana heaved lifting the heavy hook and handing it to Maui.

It hit his middle knocking the breath out of him. Using it at a crutch he bent tying the end of Vahi'a tail to it and let Moana help him limp away. "What about the heart?"

Moana reached a hand to her necklace showing him the glowing heart inside. "I've got a better one."

Consciousness, Vahi'a found, was her lying on her back with her arms outstretched as she was dragged along the ground by an unsteady Maui who was held up by a panicked Moana urging him faster to a large geyser. She should've just stayed in the water, she decided.

The ground under them shook and they turned to see Tamatoa charging. Reaching the geyser Moana looked at it waiting for it to glow and the water to surge sending them up into the sea above. It remained dark. "Come on," she said as the earth quaked the closer the crab came.

In a last moment of bravery Vahi'a pulled herself to the edge of the geyser and stretched out a weary arm calling the water. "It was you," Moana breathed as the water surged and the geyer glowed.


	6. Chapter 6: She Can't Help Falling

Moana turned from a dejected Maui, who dragged his hook onto the canoe and flopped onto his back, and looked for Vahi'a's dark red hair. "Vahi'a?" she called not seeing her. She wanted to thank her for helping them, to ask how she'd made the geyser burst and if she could do more. But she couldn't find her.

Maui stared at the sky, hearing her call for the fish woman. Even the fish stick had her mojo, so why didn't he? He sighed at realizing it was all for nothing, he should've been left on the island to rot.

"Vahi'a."

He sat up at Moana's sudden cry to see her running along the shore. Vahi'a lay limp on her belly, tender worried waves lapping at her. She didn't look a sea goddess stubborn and proud, more like a piece of kelp washed onto the shore. He remembered her quiet words the night before – she wasn't strong enough.

Moana knelt at her back brushing the hair out of her pale face. "Please be okay," she begged seeing Vahi'a's eyes were closed. "Maui, something's wrong."

As if the thought of asking the demigod for help breathed a new life into Vahi'a her eyes opened. "I'm alright," she said so soft her voice was drowned beneath the rising tide. She raised a cold hand to Moana's cheek, seeing the fear in the girl's dark eyes.

"Get back in the boat," Maui said stepping around Moana.

"But,"

He pushed her onto her feet so that she faced the other way. "Get back in the boat." His voice was soft but firm, and with a last glance back to her, Moana did as told.

He knelt beside her as she strained to sit up, only for her shaking arms to give up and her to lay back. Standing over her he didn't find her half so beautiful: her skin had once held so much warmth, now it was as pale as the dry sand beneath her. Moana had taken care of herself and saved him in the process, Vahi'a had only done this to help him. He reached for her hand, not even half the size of his own, and told her gently; "thank you. Again."

But her eyes had already closed. With a sigh he lifted her, an arm beneath her tail another around her shoulders, and carried her to the canoe where he lowered her to the wood with care. He set her near the edge leaving her tail to hang over the side in the water, and he flopped onto his back beside her so that her head was by his.

"Will she be okay?" Moana asked as they left the shore, seeing she'd be sailing since Maui was in a slump.

His head fell to the side seeing mostly the top of her head but also the shape of her face, and that her eyelashes weren't fluttering. "Don't know," he said turning away from her, his eyes finding the sky. The sun was setting, a burning red over the horizon the color of her hair. He looked at her again seeing every so often a wave rise out of the sea to brush her warm brow with cool water. He wondered if she'd been created in her father's image; her skin wet sand, her tail the water, her hair the sun's reflection on the surface. He wondered what that kind of love felt like.

 **[*][*][*]**

Vahi'a woke to a cool hand running along her fin. Blinking heavy swollen eyes she looked to see every small wave that broke against the side of the canoe was aimed at where she lay. She let her arm hang over the side of the boat, her fingers grazing the surface of the ocean. The water formed around her hand as if to hold it, to offer comfort. There wasn't much of her left to give, but her father knew her heart and she'd give Moana all she had.

"What can I say except we're dead soon. We're dead soon," Maui sang from where he lay beside her.

"Can you at least try?" Moana asked, ever the optimist. Or at least a girl who didn't have time for moping demigods, nothing would happen if he didn't put in the effort. It's why Vahi'a liked her, she got the job done.

With a sigh he turned to the girl, his expression blank. "Giant hawk," he said reaching a hand to the hook. In a flash of blue he transformed into a pig, a fish, a lizard, and finally - an irritating giant oaf.

She felt his arm fall outstretched against her back as he slumped giving up. Moana stood and poked his side with the end of the paddle. "Alright, break time's over. Get up." She sounded as exasperated as Vahi'a felt.

"Why, you gonna give me a speech?" he demanded flippant. "Tell me I can defeat Te Ka because I'm," he raised his hands forming quotations with his fingers, "Maui." The ink drawing nudged him and he sat up flicking him over his shoulder. "Take a hike tiny."

With Maui no longer beside her Vahi'a looked up at Moana seeing the girl was a mix of annoyed and earnest. Moana motioned toward Maui trying to get Vahi'a to speak, maybe he'd feel better knowing she was alright – Moana did, a little. But Vahi'a shook her head lying back down and Moana rolled her eyes seeing she was just as stubborn as he was.

Vahi'a laid with her arms crossed facing the sea wondering if she should've helped Moana, if she should've helped Maui. He was disappointed, mostly at himself, and she knew that feeling. She knew what it was like not knowing herself. More than that she knew how to push the pain deep down so she could find the beauty in what was around her. The ocean was beautiful with hidden secrets and a magic of its own, she missed the land but she'd learned to love the sea. She just, didn't know how put those feelings into words.  
Helping Moana back onto the canoe after Maui tossed her in the water, Vahi'a wondered if maybe that was why she liked Moana so much, her youth made her honest.

"You don't wanna talk, don't talk," she told Maui. "You wanna throw me off the boat, throw me off. You wanna tell me I don't know what I'm doing…I know I don't. I have no idea why the ocean chose me." Her voice was small making her sound all the more young. Here was this young girl faced with a demigod and a sea goddess and she had more faith than either. It weighed heavy on her small shoulders.  
"But my island is dying. So I am here. Vahi'a is sick too," she pointed to where the fish woman was now sitting up looking as though she wanted to comfort them both. "So it's just me and you, and I want to help. But I can't if you don't let me." She waited for him to say something or move. She sighed turning away.

As if he felt her defeat Maui said, "I wasn't born a demigod. I had human parents. They, uh, took one look and," he shrugged, "and decided they did not want me. They threw me into the sea. Like I was nothing."

Vahi'a listened to his small voice, saw the way his shoulders had shrunk, and she turned away ashamed. Had she not done the same, did she really know his pain? She slipped into the water.

"Somehow I was found by the gods, they gave me the hook. They made me Maui. And back to the humans I went. I gave them islands, fire, coconuts. Anything they could want."

"You took the heart for them. You did everything for them," she said looking at the tattoos of people cheering his name. It wasn't pride, or the want to be praised. "So they'd love you."

"It was never enough," he admitted. He didn't turn at the sound of water dripping to his left, knowing Vahi'a had swum under the boat so that she could sit on the outrigger beside him. She'd never really liked him, had found him from the beginning to be disappointing. He didn't blame her.

She didn't know what to say, words didn't come easy for her anymore. She didn't have to talk to fish. Even if she did have the words to tell him it was okay, he could still be loved, she'd probably say the wrong thing. It seemed compassion didn't come easy for her either.  
She looked up when Moana walked passed her to sit on Maui's right.

Moana looked at him finally understanding. "Maybe the gods found you for a reason. Maybe the ocean brought you to them because it saw someone who was worthy of being saved. But the gods aren't the ones who make you Maui, you are." She said her piece, and she left him with it to decide if he wanted to rise to the challenge.

Vahi'a saw her words touch him, lift him out of his wallowing. He mattered, he was loved. Humans, they weren't above pain they couldn't choose whether they lived in it – not like the gods could. Humans suffered, and they cried, and they endured because there was no other choice for them. It's why they were able to feel joy and love, because they first knew loss. It's why Moana was able to find the words and give them to him, because humans above all were compassionate.

Vahi'a reached around him grabbing the handle of his hook dragging it closer to him, and sat back looking up at him. He turned to her seeing in the place of her normal disdain only understanding, her eyes bright in the pale dawning light. She believed in him too. "Good to see you're alright fish stick," he told her quiet and sincere.

When he turned to reach for his hook she rolled her eyes, though her mouth was curled amused. Curling her tail beneath her she sat on the outrigger with her hands folded in her lap watching Maui stand looking to Moana to say he was ready. Little Maui drew an ink drawing of the plan: Maui would defeat Te Ka and restore the heart. It seemed easy enough on the tapestry of Maui's skin.

Moana held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart, Mini Maui took his hook and transformed into a beetle. Maui shifted the hook in his hand prepared to do the same, though his face was unsure. With a flash of blue a beetle fell onto the canoe. Maui saw he got it right and stood up with his arms raised giving a very faint, very high sounding, whoop. At the sight of a bug Hei Hei quickly gobbled him up.

Moana gasped bring her hands to her mouth in surprise looking to Vahi'a, as if the fish woman would know what to do. Besides laugh. And laugh she did, big belly aching laughs that shook her shoulders.

Transforming back into himself, with Hei Hei's beak around his finger, he looked at the sea goddess as she wiped her eyes giving an occasional chuckle. Before he could think of how to get her back Mini Maui held up two fingers to him and he took a breath readying himself. Lizard. He could do that.

Looking down at himself he saw green scales and smiled. The chicken landed on his back. With a playful grin that bordered on mischief he charged forward and bucked Hei Hei into the water. He looked back at the two girls with his brows raised smiling, both stared back unamused. With eyes on Vahi'a Maui leapt transforming into himself – posing as though lying on a bed of roses – and hit the water with big splash. She rolled her eyes shaking her head, the short breath that passed through her lips might've been mistaken for a scoff if not for the way she smiled.

Moana turned from her, thinking she might've seen a faint blush on her sun-warmed cheeks. She peeked over the side of the canoe looking for Maui; who burst from the water a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. The shark had been meant to scare her. It didn't. She only smiled watching as he turned into a large hawk with a blue pop. He swooped and soared high in the sky until he was little more than a smudge amongst the clouds.

"You know." Moana turned at Vahi'a's deep voice to see her lively face, and relief caught in her chest at seeing the fish woman was well again. "I know you think you need him. But he needed you more."  
Surprise smoothed Moana's youthful face and an uncertain smile twitched over her mouth. But then Vahi'a shrugged looking out over the horizon feeling the warm breeze run over her still cold skin. "I mean, he's almost tolerable now."

Flying overhead Maui, who'd been watching the way the sun glinted off the red in her dark hair, heard her words and his brow lifted as an idea came to him. Silently he swooped toward the canoe reaching with open talons for the end of her tail that hung off the boat flicking.

"Maui!" she screeched as she slid off of the wood and up into the air. Behind her was the sound of Moana's bright laughter that grew fainter the further away and up Maui flew. "Put me down," she ordered out of reflex more than thought.

With a shrug and a devilish grin he answered, "okay," releasing his hold on her fin. He chuckled at her calling his name, finding it so amusing that even as she fell from a fatal height she was still able to find a way to sound irritated.

She hung upside arms crossed and brows furrowed as he flew her around. After the second time she knew when he flew high he was going to drop her, usually to strike at a pillar of stone slicing the top off, and then as she plummeted he'd swoop down and catch her tail pulling her along.

"Come on," he told her as he flew toward a stone formation jutting high out of the water, "smile a little."

She didn't budge. "It'd be more fun if I wasn't upside down." His response was to fly higher and she waited for the moment when he let her go and she'd fall through the air with nothing but trust and hope that he'd be there to catch her again. Only this time he caught her with strong arms standing atop the cliff and her own smaller ones wrapped loosely around his broad shoulders. "This isn't what I meant," she told him breathless. Finding she felt something very similar to free.

"It'd be a lot easier if you'd just admit you like me," he replied with an offhanded shrug. His smirk would've been wider, his eyes a little warmer, had he not been able to feel the chill in her skin. She still wasn't okay, with her face only a breath from his he could see it in her green eyes. Without warning he hoisted her up onto his shoulder where she sat taller than any point in the sky looking at the unending sea safe in his firm grasp. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder, the only thanks she had to offer, and it was so clear in her open face she found it beautiful. "What can I say except your welcome," he sang softly tightening the hold he had on her. He watched her mouth purse around a grin. "Huh," he raised his shoulder beneath her jostling her, prodding her which only made her mouth purse more as she fought not to smile, "see you do like me. Why's that so hard for you to admit?"

"I tolerate you," she told him, though her voice wasn't unkind and words weren't honest. She looked down at him watching his brow arch. "No," she said reading his thoughts. "No, Maui. MAUI!"

He laughed raising a fist to Mini Maui, who stood with his arms crossed tapping his foot. "Oh come on. She loves it." The little guy didn't budge. So Maui rolled his eyes grabbed his hook and leapt after her.

She hung over the water, her arms crossed once more but the wrinkle in her brow wasn't as deep. Dropping low in the sky he slowed his flight and released her watching as she elegantly arched her back extending her arms and dove into the sea. He hovered over the place he'd dropped her with too many thoughts rolling around in his head, until one finally stuck and he dove into the sea after her.

Righting herself she found the canoe was a ways in front of her and she pondered whether to swim to it or to wait for it to catch up. In the end, she decided to swim. Before she moved a little round red fish swam in circles around her catching her hair in a spiral. Maui. Shaking her head she swam backwards motioning for him to follow before she turned and set off for the canoe. She made it a little ways before a hand caught her tail jerking her backwards, and she caught herself on a wide chest feeling large hands around her back; her hair billowing in the water around them like a curtain.

There was no arrogance in his smile, no trick or mischief. He only smiled as she looked down to find a shark's tail and at the way her eyes warmed. His hook couldn't give her legs, but he could swim with her. And she'd never had anyone to swim with. When her expression had softened so sweetly with a sudden fondness he leaned forward, his eyes closing as his wide nose brushed hers.

His eyes opened when she pulled away, his brow wrinkling as his once smiling mouth frowned. But she held fast to his arm keeping him close, pulling him with her. Her face was still open, her eyes wide with need. "Race me." Her words bubbled in the water. His head cocked to the side as he thought, as he read her. With a smile he nodded, watching her own curl on her mouth. "Don't cheat," she said raising a finger accusingly, seeing from the specific light in his eyes he'd planned on it. "Promise you won't cheat."

He raised a hand to cross an x over his chest, laughter still twinkling in his eye. Suddenly he found her hands around his arms as she pulled him to the surface. Her hands were flat on his chest as he held her up, her head bending so that her forehead brushed his. "Promise me," she breathed staring down at his widening eyes.

He understood. Words weren't easy, there were so many things she wanted to tell him but she didn't know what to say. She'd never had anyone to swim with, but she wanted to swim with him. She may have even been asking him to stay. He found her much less impossible. "Cross my heart," he swore, and the hand she held over his heart twitched as though to hold that promise.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading, I hope you all are enjoying. Please check back on Monday for the next chapter (there's only two left)._


	7. Chapter 7: She Gave Her All

"Wanna know what I never understood?" Maui asked hanging from the top of the mast staring hard at the horizon seeing where the sky darkened with thick black clouds smothering all light. They were close.

Moana stood at the rig, Vahi'a sat with her tail in the water and her elbows propping her up on the canoe. "Not really," Vahi'a told him with blunt honesty. Looking up with a half hidden grin she added, "but that hasn't stopped you yet."

His large feet landed on the canoe causing it to dip beneath his weight, jostling Vahi'a so that she almost slipped off. He met her sigh with a chuckle as he stepped closer. "Why flowers?" he asked standing so he stood over where Vahi'a sat with Moana on his right. "They'd have given you anything: gold, statues, prayed every second they sailed on the sea in the name of Vahi'a who would see their travels safe. And you picked…flowers." His tone was mocking though not cruel. He couldn't understand something so simple as a flower, a quiet prayer. His was a story of legend and myth, songs were sung in his name, statues erected in his image. He preferred glory.

But Vahi'a shrugged. "I like flowers."

He waited for more, she didn't give it. "Okay, so what about the second flower?"

"What about it?"

"One is a prayer but two, you like the praise don't you? I know, I know," he said raising his hands as she rolled her eyes, "you're too proud to admit it. But there's no reason to make the mortals give you another flower after they arrived unless you wanna hear a thank you."

Vahi'a turned to the wide expanse of sea not bothering to respond, and Maui stood over her smiling at her refusal to answer him. If this is what arguing with her was like he could imagine their innumerous years, she wouldn't care enough to respond so he'd always be right. Except for the times when she did wanna talk back, he liked those too.

"That's not what it means," Moana told him, caring enough to prove him wrong. "It says we are safe, and it's beautiful." She turned to Vahi'a whose face was softened as she smiled faintly. Moana smiled in return, remembering the feel of her wet hand on her cheek.

Had anyone in Vahi'a's entire existence ever believe in her as much as she did? Vahi'a reached into the water pulling every flower Moana had given into her arms and set them on the edge of the canoe.

With wide eyes Moana recognized them and saw that she'd gotten every one. There were hundreds, so many they spilled over the side back into the water where they floated around the canoe. Vahi'a knew them all, could still hear Moana's whispered prayers. Out of the pile she picked up one and placed it in Moana's hair, seeing from her wet eyes the girl knew it to be the flower she'd given asking Vahi'a to come.

Maui watched silently the way her hand curled around Moana's cheek, the way Moana's hand fit over hers. He understood then it wasn't prayer or praise, but love. He held a flower in the palm of his hand watching as it melted, looking up to see whatever magic she had she wasn't strong enough to hold and only a puddle of water remained. As silent as he watched them he turned away, leaving them to a moment he didn't feel apart of.

[*][*][*]

A moonless night fell as a thick gray fog settled over the ocean clouding the sky. Every so often a star was seen before it was snuffed out. They were closer still. Maui looked down from where he hung on the mast first to Vahi'a who sat proud and quiet on the outrigger, her blackened tail curled beneath her. And then he looked to Moana, the girl who'd done it all, who reached for the water to feel the current and then straightened the sail to catch the wind.

She looked up meeting his warm stare. "What?"

"I figured it out," he answered jumping from the mast landing with a jarring thud. He faced the clouded horizon before them, knowing what lay beyond the fog. "The ocean used to love when I pulled up islands, cause your ancestors would sail oversea and find them. All those new lands, new villages."

That was a time long ago, almost forgotten. Vahi'a remembered it, had overseen every wayfinder to every new island until one day they'd stopped sailing. And she'd wandered listless and alone. Somehow even then, without ever knowing, she'd been following Maui. Until he disappeared.

"It was the water that connected them all." Fiddling with one of the ropes attached to the sail he turned to Moana. "And if I were ocean I think I'd be looking for a curly haired non princess to start that again."

Moana smiled touched. "That is literally the nicest thing you've ever said to me," she said as heat rose in her cheeks. It almost sounded like a goodbye. "Probably should've saved it for Te Fiti."

With a short nod he replied, "I did." He extended an arm as the thick fog cleared revealing the shadowed form of the island ahead of them. "Moana of Motanui. I believe you have officially delivered Maui across the great sea." He moved behind her back and whispered the cheer she'd given him days before, "Moana, Moana, Moana. You're so amazing."

Vahi'a smiled gently as she strained to see Te Fiti, her heart leaping and begging to be near her. All she saw was stone. She was cold.

"It's time," Maui said taking the stone from Moana. There was a quiet steady hum as it beat. As if in knowing there was a rumble and cracking of stone, they all turned to see the shadows glow a bright red as lava burned. With his hook in one hand and the heart in the other he stretched readying himself and stepped to the edge of the canoe.

Vahi'a watched him, her hands clasped with such force they could've broken. A thousand years ago he'd stolen the heart destroying her home, taking from her her only companion. She felt no anger toward him, no annoyance. She wished him well, safe in his travels.

The breath caught in her throat at the familiar call fluttering in her chest. Between two bars of wood she reached tenderly catching the leaf floating on the surface of the water. She looked up seeing Maui half turned toward her, a small smile pulling at his mouth. "I'll send you another," he promised. He looked then to Moana, who stood with so much belief in him he could feel it.

"Go save the world."

He grinned at the two girls before he leapt into the sky. "Cheeehoooo!" he called and with a blue flash transformed into a hawk.

Vahi'a held the leaf in her fist clutched to her chest watching as he flew closer. When had she stopped finding him a hindrance, an insufferable oaf who couldn't decide if he wanted to keep her or throw her to the sea? She wanted to go back, to sit on this canoe feeling that way. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt so much.

Smoke billowed and lightening flashed. A boulder was hurled sizzling with flames and he quickly swooped to the right where it landed in the ocean with a loud hiss. He dodged another, and another soaring ever closer. The thick black smoke swelled higher, angry bolts of lightening cracked and flashed. Until with a bellowing roar Te Ka rose with fire in its eyes smacking the demigod out of the hawk and batting him out of the sky.

"Maui!" Moana cried as he fell. She sailed them closer hoping to help.

Vahi'a waited with bated breath as he grabbed the heart and his hook becoming a hawk once more. He wasn't defeated yet, there was still a chance. He flew out of the way of one fiery hand, and was struck by the other. His back hit the water, his grip loosened on the stone and it glittered as it sank.

Time was up, she wasn't waiting anymore. She dove into the ocean after him. The glow of the lava above illuminated the sea below lighting her path. Transforming into a shark he grabbed the heart and headed back for the boat, they needed a new plan maybe even a new demigod because he wasn't so sure he could do it anymore. A boulder was flung into the sea narrowly missing his tail throwing him forward and out of the shark. Smaller, he needed to be smaller.

Grabbing the heart again he looked back seeing the glowing flame of another boulder above him tearing the surface of the water. He slammed into a heaving chest feeling her arms come around him as they rolled out of the way of the hurtling stone. Vahi'a held him against her as she raced for the canoe feeling the way the water bent around another heavy stone. She tossed Maui onto the boat, he bounced a few times before transforming back into himself as he caught his breath.

Vahi'a loosely held onto a bar of wood breathing deeply as she turned back to Te Ka, who seemed so much more impossible to defeat. The boat was torn out of her grasp and she looked to see Moana had straightened the sail. "Moana," she called swimming after them. She heard Moana yell she was finding him a better way in, but Vahi'a didn't see how. Te Ka loomed above them shrieking as it watched the canoe.

"We won't make it!"

Vahi'a stopped swimming and watched the small boat sail for what looked to be a narrow opening in the stone. It was too close. She didn't know if she should try to go after them, if she'd be able to convince herself to move. With wide eyes she watched Te Ka raise a glowing hand and with a loud shriek bring it down over the canoe. There was a bright flash of purple where the blue from Maui's hook mixed with the red of the lava raising massive swells that carried the canoe far away. Vahi'a swam to the bottom of the ocean to find there was even a current there and it pulled her a long ways before the water settled.

Slowly she swam dragging herself along until she finally spotted the canoe drifting along the ocean in the wrong direction. She found Maui sitting on the edge cradling his hook in his lap. The water parted around her face as she broke the surface, her hair splayed in the water a shadow of a halo. She was beautiful, he'd always thought so, but it touched nothing in him then. He continued staring at the place his hook was charred and had cracked.

Brushing timid fingers over its broken surface she sighed pulling herself around so that she could sit beside him. She hoisted herself up on quivering arms dragging herself onto the canoe, feeling his hand wrap around her waist giving her a small push. He looked down seeing the black stain wasn't just on her fin anymore, it covered over half her tail and he could hear from her heavy breaths it was taking everything from her. He didn't know when it happened, only that she was dying and he couldn't save her. He couldn't even save himself.

"Are you okay?" came Moana's soft, guilty, voice having finally woken. "Maui?"

He turned showing her what she'd done. The hook sparked and sizzled in his hands. "I told you to turn back."

Vahi'a sat up at his unhappy voice, looking from his deeply knitted brows to Moana's wide eyes. She wanted to tell her it was okay, but it wasn't. She listened as Moana admitted she thought she could make it, with no thought to Maui or even Vahi'a who'd she'd left behind.

"We can fix it," Moana said trying to come up with something, anything to make it better.

"It was made by the gods, you can't _fix it_ ," Maui replied raising his voice, startling the girl. At Vahi'a's hand on his leg he not quite kicked her, but nudged her away. She'd never liked him had called him useless, even with his hook he still was. Nothing had changed.

Hurt Vahi'a slipped back into the water slowly moving around the canoe to where Moana knelt at the outrigger tying a loose rope tighter. Moana came up with a new plan: Te Ka was stuck on the barrier islands so they'd find a way around.

She listened quietly as Moana tried to convince him to stay, knowing he wouldn't. Why had she ever believed in him, had let herself hope she'd finally found…It didn't matter what she thought. He was leaving, and it felt an awful lot like he was leaving her. She wanted to hate him for it.

"Without my hook I am nothing!"

But there was something so sad in the way he believed it, that he'd always believed it. And there was Moana trying to be brave enough for the both of them who believed he was more. She was there only to save her island, and Vahi'a had only come to help her. Her own wants and fears aside, she was there to see Moana safe in her travels.

So when Maui transformed into a hawk and flew away she swam around the canoe looking up at Moana. "I'll bring him back," Vahi'a told her, seeing the tears shining in her eyes.

Maui flew angry at Moana and Te Ka, at the humans, his parents, the gods for ever thinking he could be someone. But mostly, he was angry with himself.

"Maui."

He growled a sigh at hearing Vahi'a beneath him. Great, he thought, just great.

"I know you heard me."

He flew higher, it wasn't like she could come after him. A wet rope wrapped tight around his middle, he had only enough time to look down to see it was water, before he was hurtling toward the sea. He struck a small half sunken rock formation with such force it knocked the wind out of him.

She climbed onto the rock seeing him lying on his belly defeated. "Get up," she ordered finding herself so tired and out of breath that she had no patience to give him. "Seriously, Maui, get up," she demanded smacking his arm.

"You want me to say I'm a coward," he yelled sitting up, eyes blazing. "Fine, you were right, I am a coward."

"How else can you be brave?"

He was quieted by the way her voice scratched her throat raw from how loud she'd yelled it. And he found himself unable to look at her, for her to see how ashamed he was. "This the part where we have a heart to heart and you convince me I'm strong enough to beat Te Ka if I just believe?" he asked, his voice one part soft and two parts scorned. His head was bent low, his hair hanging in his face.

She supposed she should've said something along the lines of, she'd drag him by the hair to Te Ka herself and maybe even wield him as weapon because his only use so far was being hard headed. But she couldn't find the energy or the will to say. Her sigh shrunk her and she gently brushed his curly hair over his shoulder, her hand catching his chin forcing him to look at her. "We both know I'm not good with words," she said seeing his hard face soften, and in its place came his sorrow. "You need to decide what kind of demigod you are," she told him soft and warm. "I can't decide for you."

He leaned his heavy head against her hand so that she was cradling his cheek. His fingers brushed her skin feeling how cold it was. She wasn't strong enough. "If you go back you will die," he told her finding he was afraid of the thought.

Her smile was small and it quivered. "I already am, Maui," she told him sadly. She watched that settle in his eyes before he looked down, before he looked anywhere but at her. There was no going back. From the moment he tied her to the canoe she'd been his. Holding his face she pressed a soft kiss to his round cheek hearing the breath he held and feeling the flutter of his lashes as his eyes closed. When he opened them again she was gone, leaving only a ripple in the water.

[*][*][*]

Moana emerged from the sea with the heart in hand looking for her grandmother. The sky was dim, and she was alone. With a sigh she swam for the canoe feeling something brush her leg. "Vahi'a?" She turned finding the fish woman treading water behind her. In a rush Moana threw her arms around her thin shoulders, feeling her slick tail swaying in the water keeping them afloat. "Thank you," Moana told her.

Vahi'a pulled away smoothing the wet hair off of Moana's forehead. "I don't think he's coming."

It hurt, having thought he was her friend. But if he wouldn't be a hero then she would be. "We'll do it then," Moana said climbing onto the canoe. "Together."

With a smile Vahi'a pulled herself onto the boat, pausing to catch her breath, and tied off the loose ropes Moana threw to her so that they could sail. They traveled all night into late morning until ashes blew on the wind and the sky darkened with clouds. Moana of Motunui and Vahi'a daughter of the sea.

"Te Ka can't follow us into the water. We make it past the barrier islands. We make it to Te Fiti," Moana said mapping out the plan one last time.

Vahi'a sank into ocean readying herself. "I'll stay under you, make sure nothing Te Ka throws gets too close."

Moana placed Hei Hei into a basket in the hatch, who clucked looking up at her. "None of which you understand. Because you are a chicken." With that she closed the lid and turned to Vahi'a. The two shared a long look as they breathed deeply, as they prepared. With a nod Moana turned to Te Ka and Vahi'a slipped beneath the surface of the water.

Vahi'a kept under the boat seeing the red glow of Te Ka who loomed over them. Te Ka raised a hand to bring it down on the canoe but they took a hard left and its hand struck the water hardening the lava. She looked at the wall of barrier islands seeing Te Ka crawling over them and cast a ball of lava toward them.

The water erupted in front of the canoe and Vahi'a grabbed the bow weighing it down so that they weren't overturned. In a cloud of ash and smoke Te Ka met them at a break in the barrier island, but Vahi'a helped Moana quickly turn the boat around before it noticed. Another sharp left and they sailed through an opening surrounded by a wall of stone. Te Ka threw another bout of lava that struck the cliffs above them sending rocks plummeting into the sea around them. Moana cried out as the canoe lurched losing her footing and the heart.

Give me the strength, she prayed to her father. Taking a steady breath she sent the canoe on a fast current away from the cliffs. And she hurled herself to the surface pulling the water with outstretched arms creating waves that slammed against the sides of the cliffs catching every rock before it struck the boat. She seemed to hang in the air with her hands held high, a wall of water on either side of her, her reddened hair splayed around her.

She was a sea witch. The daughter of Tangaroa, god of the sea. A sea goddess of her own right. Her name was Vahi'a.  
Without a breath to catch she fell back to the water where she slowly sank. Her arms still outstretched as though to reach for the canoe that sailed away without her. Lifeless she lay on the bottom of the sea, where she breathed her last breath.


	8. Chapter 8: Goodbye, Travel Well

_There was a drumming heartbeat warm and steady. Echoing deep through the water, searching. Reaching. Life was breathed where life had been lost. A single sorrowful flower was given to the ocean.  
Water filled her mouth as she answered the call. _

**[*][*][*]**

The heart of Te Fiti was restored. The world was saved, Motunui was saved. Te Fiti had rebuilt the canoe, Moana was ready to sail home. But Moana stared at the flower she held in her hand wishing for the fish woman who hadn't come back. With a trembling breath she stepped into the water wishing she had more to say than thank you, because it wasn't enough. Cupping the flower she brought it to her mouth whispering a prayer, and she lowered her hands to the water letting the sea take it to wherever she'd fallen.

She looked over her shoulder at where Maui stood looking at the hook he held in his hands, tracing a specific carving. Moana looked back to the flower finding it still where she'd left it.

From beneath the clear blue water rose the woman of the sea, the flower catching in her hair, her face upturned toward the young girl. A wet hand reached from the water touching her already wet cheek.

Moana held her hand over Vahi'a's finding it warm. She threw her arms around the fish woman's shoulders letting her tears slip into her reddened hair. "You heard me," she said feeling Vahi'a's thin arms around her back.

"I always do," Vahi'a told her kissing her cheek.

Moana smiled turning for the shore. "Maui," she called seeing him still staring at his hook.

Maui first looked down to the tattoo who jumped wildly on his chest pointing to where Moana stood in the sea. He quickly looked up finding the red in her hair. His hook stuck in the sand from where he dropped it as he rushed forward, his large feet splashing in the water. Nearly shoving Moana out of the way he wrapped strong arms around Vahi'a's waist holding her to his chest, feeling her cheek warm against his.

With a smile her arms came around his broad shoulders as she dangled above the water. "You came back," she said having never been so glad to have been wrong.

He leaned back looking at her bright eyes, noting the glow of her skin. But his mouth was frowning. "Well that just figures. I'm a hero and you miss it."

"Well excuse me for being dead," she said sitting up in his arms staring down at him. "I'll make sure to work on my priorities next time."

Hugging her waist he paused as though considering her words and nodded. "That's all I ask." He grinned as her half irritated face curled into a wide smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. And then he was left with what to say next, that he was happy she was alive, that he wanted her come with him, that he wanted to stay. He didn't know how to tell her any of that, if he even could.

"Vahi'a."

They turned at Moana's soft voice and followed her wide-eyed open mouthed stare to Vahi'a's tail. She only saw a flash of brown before Maui hoisted her up onto his shoulder where she sat with a hand resting on top of the hand he'd curled over her legs to keep her still.

Her legs.

The air stilled in her lungs. The scales that once encircled her hips had been replaced by a skirt as blue as the sea, the heels of her feet brushed against the leaves around Maui's waist. And it tickled.

"Look at that," Maui mused running a hand over her calf hardly believing it himself. Te Fiti had done much more than bring her back to life. He walked to the shore and gently lowered Vahi'a to the warm sand. Like a newborn deer her knees buckled and the arm he held around her back tightened. "I've got you," he told her, his voice low and deep by her ear.

Her palm was flat on his chest steadying herself as she stood, finding that she neared Maui's height. A breath she couldn't catch left her as she leaned against him unable to see anything for the water in her eyes. The sand was soft under her feet, and warm. And the grass. Timidly she took a step feeling her quivering leg giving out. Two small hands grabbed hers and she turned to see Moana whose eyes had filled with tears as she smiled. Finding her footing, and her balance, she took another step. And another. And another. Without her realizing Maui let her go and motioned for Moana to do the same.

They watched her step on the tips of her toes onto the grass bending so she could look at each blade. How she'd missed the grass and the smell of dirt. Moana glanced at Maui to see his mouth had fallen open as he stared. With a small grin she turned back to Vahi'a who looked up as a butterfly circled her head.

Her bright eyes followed it as it fluttered around her, and then her gaze fell to the long stretch of grass in front of her. The smile fell from her mouth as a thought struck her: I could run. So she did.

Her feet pounded against the earth, with each step her pace quickened. Her hair flew behind her as she bounded along. Gaining more and more ground she panted hearing her heart beating in her ears. She could've run forever.

A hawk swooped around and in front of her. In a flash of blue Maui stood catching her. "Okay," he laughed as she hit his square chest throwing him back a step, his hands coming around her back. "Easy now. Don't go too far." What he really meant was, I don't want to lose you again. He felt her chest brush his with each heaving breath as she settled, and he could do nothing but stare. This woman with fire for hair and the sun for a smile, and a thousand stars twinkling in her eyes. A warm sigh shrunk him and his forehead rested over hers.

Catching her breath she found herself wanting. "I," she started but the words failed her. They always did. Run with me – "I" Dance with me – "I" Whatever you do can it just, be with me. At his smile she gave a breathy laugh looking down, feeling heat rising in her cheeks.

He brushed the hair out of her face letting his hand cup her cheek forcing her to look at him. She leaned into his touch seeing on his warm face he didn't need the words to know what she was asking, and from the small smile he wore his answer yes. She took a breath. "Race me." With a smile he nodded, watching her own curl on her mouth. "Promise," she requested, knowing he was a trickster.

He chuckled softly pulling her hand to his chest placing her palm over his heart. "I promise." Bending his head to hers he watched her smile as his nose brushed the tip of hers. And then her eyes glittered playful and mischievous. Her hand slipped from beneath his and she turned racing back to the beach. "Hey," he called running after her. "You said no cheating."

"I said you couldn't cheat," she yelled back, her laughter bubbling as she ran.

Moana turned from the resurrected canoe to see Maui chasing after Vahi'a, smiles curled wide on both of their faces. A demigod once trapped on an island and a fish woman once trapped in the sea. They weren't so alone anymore. It made her smile.

Vahi'a stopped at the canoe with Maui only a few steps behind her feeling his arm heavy on her shoulder as they caught their breath. She looked over at Maui who held her eye and nodded as he reached for his hook. In understanding she turned to Moana realizing this was where they parted ways. "I said I'd see you safe."

"And you have," Moana told her, knowing Vahi'a would leave Maui to see her home. She stepped closer to the fish woman reaching for her hands. "You, gave everything to save me." Her voice broke over the last word, tears swelling in her eyes. "So I'm saying thank you. I made it. And it's beautiful."

Moana was letting her go. Vahi'a wiped the tears from Moana's cheek and pulled her to her chest holding her. "I'll come back," she told her, feeling her small arms wrapped tight around her waist. "When you call me."

Moana nodded, her head tucked beneath Vahi'a's chin. "I know." She pulled away looking up at Vahi'a's wet eyes. "This isn't goodbye," she swore, swallowing the lump in her throat.

Shaking her head Vahi'a released her and stepped to the edge of the water and bent plucking a flower from the tide. The flower Moana had given her at the start of her journey. She tucked it behind Moana's ear before bending to kiss her cheek.

Maui looked down at Mini Maui who stood over his left breast dancing with his little drawing of Vahi'a. He remembered just a few days ago when he'd scoffed at the idea. How long ago that seemed. Looking up he met Vahi'a's eye as she turned from Moana. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded. Shifting the hook in his hand he leapt into the sky. "Cheeeehoooo!" He spun catching the ocean with his wings sending sprays of water arching through the air around him.

Vahi'a rolled her eyes. "Show off," she muttered stepping into the ocean. Small gentle waves rolled over her legs as she moved deeper. She dove and as the water rolled over her skirt scales grew in its place wrapping her legs together as her feet stretched into a fin.

She swam a little ways, looking up to see Maui gliding over her, before she came to the surface and turned back to Te Fiti. She was leaving with a full heart, and a new companion to keep her warm.  
And then she looked to the girl standing on the shore. The girl who'd given her the strength to be brave. Vahi'a loved her.

Goodbye Moana of Motunui. Travel well.

* * *

 _Thank you all for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it. I gotta say I will miss these two bickering._ _Thank you all again, your reading this means so much. I don't know if it'd have finished the story with you.  
_


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